Spool



Patented Dec. 17, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HUGO H. WERMINE, 0FVILLA PARK, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO BELDEN MANUFACTUR- ING COMPANY, OFCHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS SPOOL Application filedAugust 13, 1925.

This invention relates to spools for winding wire and the like and hasfor one of its objects to provide a spool of simple and dura-- bleconstruction which may be economically produced. Another object is toprovide a spool of large capacity which may be easily made by the diecasting process. Other objects and advantages will be better understoodby reference to the following specification when considered inconnection with the accompanying drawings, illustrating a selectedembodiment of my invention, where- Fig. 1 is a section on a diameter ofmy improved spool.

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of one of the halves of my improved spool,viewing the inner end thereof, and

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a portion of the inner ends of thehalves forming my spool, showing the method of joining them together. I

Referring to the drawings, my improved spool comprises two members 5 and6, preferably halves, which are identical in size and form. The memberor half desi nated by the numeral 5, comprises a body substantiallytubular in form, provided with an integral head 8 and flange 9. The head8 is axially apertured as at 10 and has a plurality of recesses 11 andapertures 12 provided, which apertures communicate with the space insideof the tubular body 7. I have found it desirable to provide the recesses11 of sufficient depth to receive the entire thickness of the head of abolt 13, as clearly shown in Figure 1, and to provide bosses 14 in whichsaid recesses are formed. By this means I avoid the necessity of a thickwall in forming the head 8, thereby maintaining a light struc-' ture.The opposite end of the half 5 is provided with a plurality of tongues15 projecting from the body, leaving spaces 16 therebetween. The ends ofthe tongues 15 are provided with grooves 17 and the body at the bottomof the s aces 16 between the tongues 15 are provide with tongues 18.(Fig. 3).

The other half 6 is identical with the above described half, being ofthe same size and shape and having like tongues and grooves from thesame die.

Serial No. 49,894.

provided, both halves being, in fact, produced Each half is providedwith the same number of tongues 15 and grooves 16, the number being aneven one, such as 12, the number illustrated. In this manner, I providehalves of a spool which may be placed end to end, the tongues of onefitting snugly in the spaces between the tongues of the other, formingan interlocking engagement between them. The grooves 17 and tongues 18are desirable for the purpose of insuring perfect alignment of thesurface of the tubular bodies.

The halves thus joined together in inter locking engagement, may bepermanently held together by means of a tube 19 which is passed throughthe apertures 10 in the heads and preferably turned over as at 20 ateach end. Further holding means may comprise bolts 13 having ordinaryheads and nuts, which bolts may be passed through the apertures 12lodging the heads thereof in recesses 11 in the head on one side andnuts 21 which may be lodged in recesses in the head on t e other side.Both means of fastening 1; 1e halves together may be employed at thesame time or either one may be used independently. I have, however, insome cases, found it suflicient to use only the tube 19 with itsoverturned ends 20 since it alone provides the necessary holdingstrength, while also serving as a bearing for mounting the spool on thespindle of a mandrel used in winding wire or the like onto the spool.The interlocking or doweled connection between the halves insurespositive contact and unitary rotation of the assembled spool.

Tongue and groove connection between the halves is preferable in that itavoids a continuous or circumferential line of abutment between thehalves, which in practice might leave a crack of sufficient size anddepth to allow a turn of wire to be wound into it, with the attendantpossibility of damaging insulation on the wire and in breaking thesmoothness of the coil.

By constructing my improved spool of two halves, I am able to provide aspool made up of die castings, which will have substantially parallelflanges. It has been found desirable to form spools by die casting, butin the past it has been difficult to form a onepiece spool having wideflanges, and consequently large capacity, by this process due to thenecessity of providing a taper on the flanges in order to enable thecasting to be drawn from the die. Such a taper on the flanges is veryundesirable because it necessarily causes the flanges on opposite endsof the spool to spread at their outer edges and this causes diflicultyin winding Wire on the spool. Machines for spooling wire are so fixedthat the wire is automatically traversed over a path of predeterminedwidth, this width being set according to the width of the spool betweenthe flanges at the body portion. When a number of layers of wire arethen applied, the space between the flanges is increased somewhat,leaving additional space after the last turn of a layer of wire intowhich a turn of a subsequent layer may easily slip which results in aloosely and unevenly wound spool of wire.

By constructing my improved spool of two halves, I am enabled to dividethe dies in which they are formed in such a manner that I may form verywide flanges without providing draft to enable me to draw the castingfrom the die. When two such halves are assembled together to form myimproved spool, I provide a spool wherein the flanges are substantiallyparallel, between which layers of wire may be wound, each layer havingthe same number of turns and traversing the same distance, entirelyfilling the space between the flangespthereby insuring an even,

smooth and undamaged spool of wire.

I have thus provided a spool which will have large capacity on whichwire or the like may be wound by the usual spooling machines withoutdanger of loose or uneven layers of wire and which may be economicallymanufactured principally by the die casting process.

i I am aware that changes in the form and construction of my inventionwill be made without departing from the spirit thereof, and the scope ofthe same should be determined by refrence to the appended claims, suchclaims being construed as broadly as posslble, consistent with the stateof the art.

. I claim. as my invention:

1. A spool comprising two tubular body members arranged end to end andeach provlded with a plurality of spaced axially extending tongues, thetongues of one portion being engaged with the tongues of the otherportion and disposed in the spaces therebehead and a laterally outwardlyextending flange molded integrally with the body, each of said hollowcylindrical body members being provided at its other end with aplurality of spaced endwise extending tongues molded integrally with andbeing in effect extensions of the hollow cylindrical body, the tonguesof one body member being adapted to fit in the spaces between thetongues of the other body member and to engage the tongues of the saidother body member so as to lock the body members together againstrelative rotation.

3. A spool comprising two tubular body portions, each portion beingprovided at one end with a plurality of spaced integrally formed axiallyextending tongues, said tongues being in eiiect extensions of therespective body portions, the tongues of each body portion fitting inthe spaces between the tongues of the other body portion so as tointerlock said body portions against relative rotation, said tonguesforming an irregular line of abutment between said body portions, andmeans for holding said body portions together.

4. A spool of the class described, comprising a barrel consisting of aplurality of substantially cylindrical parts co-axially arranged end toend, said parts having integrally formed end portions of irregular shapeconstituting extensions of the respective parts and complementary toeach other and lying in interlocking interengagement and preventingrelative rotation between said parts, said irregular shaped interlockingends forming an irregular line of abutment between said barrel parts.

5. A spool comprising a pair of hollow cylindrical body members, eachbody member being provided at one end with a head, and a laterallyoutwardly extending flange integral with the body, each of said hollowcylindrical body members being provided at its other end with aplurality of spaced endwise extending tongues integral with and being inefl'ect extensions of the hollow cylindrical body, the tongues of onebody member fitting in the spaces between the tongues of the other bodymember and engaging the tongues of the said other body member to lockthe body members against relative rotation and also to provide anirregular line of abutment between the body members.

HUGO H. WEB-MINE. v

tween, and interlocking means on the ends of i said tongues and theadjacent end portions of the body members for facilitating axialalignment of said members.

2. A spool comprising a pair of molded, hollow cyl ndrical body members,each provlded at one end with an axially apertured

